Since the jury appears deadlocked...

The Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Harrisburg built in 1966.

Here's an idea for the $130 million - at last guesstimate -- federal court house planned for Harrisburg:

Level the existing federal building at 3rd & Walnut streets, rebuild it for the court, and move the non-court federal offices like the IRS to 6th & Reily streets, where Mayor Stephen R. Reed wanted to put the entire project.

Federal officials who oppose 6th & Reily for a court house say it would be fine for an office building, though they stretch to come up with excuse after excuse about why it isn't fit for a court house.

It's not the ideal situation, but it's one that everybody seems somewhat open to considering and a prime opportunity for compromise amid all the grandstanding by local and federal officials.

Had the U.S. General Services Administration proposed anything like that when they started the site selection process, there likely would have been little opposition, everyone from the mayor himself to the federal lawmakers who are now holding court house project planners' feet to the fire agree.

It would keep the courthouse downtown, near transportation, hotels, restaurants and even the nail salons that GSA officials say such a project requires.

"We would not reject that thought or idea out of hand," either said Reed when the suggestion was put to him. "It's not perfect, but it's not bad."

Thank you very much, we look forward to receiving our consulting fee.

GSA officials also say the idea might work, but they're unwilling to commit to locating the non-court offices at 6th & Reily or anywhere else for that matter.

Oh, by the way, the 50,000 square feet of permanent rental space the Feds need for the non-court offices doesn't exist in Harrisburg. But they think, make that hope, the market will develop before a wrecking ball turns the Ronald Reagan Federal Building into ruble.

Reeds plan to put the current federal building back on the tax rolls by selling it to private developers and moving everything to 6th & Reily has merit, particularly for a capital city such as Harrisburg, where so much of the prime real estate is eaten up by non-taxable state office buildings.

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed

But it also raises the uncomfortable questions that few in Harrisburg are willing to say aloud about the mayor's decision to locate Harrisburg University and SciTech High on nearby prime real estate rather than use those projects to jump start 6th & Reily.

A midtown academic hub with Harrisburg Area Community College would fit in perfectly with the residential development already taking place in the area and would have attracted more tax-paying restaurants and retail shops to service students, residents and help attract more people to move into the city.

"I for the life of me don't understand why Harrisburg University is not up at 6th and Reily," said Barbara Shelton, GSA's regional administrator who grew up at nearby 7th & Hamilton.

"What most cities try to do is create some kind of cluster of like use," said Shelton, who had no problem challenging the mayor-for-life's claim to be the one to know what's best for Harrisburg.

Moving the court house from downtown never made much sense to commercial real estate appraiser Don Paul Shearer.

"I have heard a lot of rhetoric and "saw the choo-choo train of support running wildly down the track with horn blowing and lights on" but have seen little actual data or factual reasons to support the Sixth and Reily Street sites and, in my opinion, the other proposed sites by GSA (Green Street, Second and Walnut, etc.) made no sense either," he e-mailed.

Shearer also skeptical that there's much demand for another office building in downtown or midtown.

GSA officials, who see the judges as their client and think they are only accountable to the court instead of the public, which pays the taxes that fund the court that pays the rent to GSA, the landlord for federal agencies, have some answering of their own to do.

It's difficult to blame the judges for not wanting their court house at 6th & Reily, which resembles a wasteland reminiscent of the futuristic "Mad Max" movies than a site in walking distance to their favorite eateries and not across from the Bethesda Mission.

Only last year, two of the three sites the same agency selected a block away from 6th & Reily were deemed more than satisfactory.

They say they can now build at 3rd & Walnut because better construction technology such as collapsible sidewalks, blast resistant windows and walls and other barriers makes a stronger building on a smaller site possible and that 50-to-100 foot setbacks from the street may not be mandatory.

GSA's demand that hotels and transportation be nearby also ring hallow given that most jurors, by GSA's own account, come from York County and are likely to be taking Amtrak or the bus to court.

And as U.S. Rep. Tim Holden notes, how often do you hear about jurors being sequestered?

At $40 a day in juror pay, few are likely to make a night of it in Harrisburg.

The only thing everybody agrees on is the need for a new federal court house. Yet the longer the political wrangling continues, the more some people worry the funding will disappear as other projects take precedence.

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